


Consider This

by Nopholom



Category: Hollyoaks
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Ficlet Collection, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-02
Updated: 2014-09-02
Packaged: 2018-02-15 22:18:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2245371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nopholom/pseuds/Nopholom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of ficlets based on a tumblr post about OTPs, set in an AU where Brendan is out of jail and he and Ste have made a life for themselves in Dublin, features the kids quite heavily.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One making awful breakfast for the other and the other eating it because they appreciate it that much

**Author's Note:**

> Very loosely based on this tumblr post: http://nopholom.tumblr.com/post/95533374541/ There are some mentions of sex but it's all vague and non-explicit so here's hoping the rating stays okay (I didn't want to put it higher for fear of 'letting down'

Typically, if Brendan was going to serve up breakfast in bed, he'd nip over to the cafe and buy it, but for some reason he'd decided to rustle something up himself. He wasn't a _bad_ cook exactly, he'd proven that at the restaurant and whenever he persuaded Ste to let him make another crème brûlée, but Ste wasn’t exactly sure what the green and yellow half-circles on the plates were supposed to be, or if they were edible,

“Morning Steven,” Brendan greeted with a warm smile, adopting that tone for Ste’s name that always managed to send a wave of heat through the younger man,

"What's this?" Ste asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes tiredly as Brendan placed the tray on Ste's legs and shed his apron before climbing back into bed.

"Its breakfast Steven, surely you of all people should know what that is,” Brendan jabbed Ste lightly in the ribs with an elbow, smirking as he got comfy and reclaimed his breakfast from Ste's lap,

“Oh ha-ha,” he mocked, pulling a face, “I know _that_ , but ya cooked, why?” he watched in dismay as Brendan ceased the shovelling of food into his maw, clearly offended,

“I’m hurt Steven, do I need a reason?” he asked, Ste shrugging lamely, “If you don’t want it, I’ll eat it,” he stabbed at Ste’s breakfast with his fork but Ste smacked his hand away,

“Oi that’s mine!” he protested, “Gerroff you, I want it, it looks well nice,” he lied, it looked sort of okay at best. Brendan shrugged and went back to tucking into his own food with an odd look on his face, leaving Ste to slowly pick at the eggy mess on his plate whilst he tried to work out what the special occasion was.

He’d figured out as he ate that the green was broccoli, slightly undercooked broccoli, and Brendan mumbled somewhere along the line that it was a frittata and there was green pepper in there too, which Ste figured were the bits burned beyond recognition. It wasn’t good at all, but he was charmed by Brendan and how he’d gone to the effort to cook him something fancy for breakfast, even if he’d not done the best of jobs and should’ve stuck to his famous fry up instead.

He cleared the plate, swallowing down the last morsel and hoping he didn’t look _too_ relieved to be finished, Brendan moved beside him, climbing out of bed with plate in hand, Ste enjoying the sight of his boyfriend in that dumb moustache covered underwear he had bought him for Christmas. He knew he looked like a dope as he gazed up at Brendan, tongue caught between his teeth in a grin, smiling broader when Brendan turned to take his plate, leaning down to capture Ste’s lips in a slow kiss. Brendan was smiling back at him when they parted,

“Oh, by the way,” he rumbled against Ste’s lips, “happy anniversary Steven,” he uttered, standing up straight and watching Ste’s reaction. Ste felt his mouth gape, eyes wide as his mind reeled and he tried to remember what day it was, he didn’t have to think for long though, having just pegged that it was _June_ , which was nowhere _near_ their anniversary, when Brendan began laughing at him.

“Shut up!” Ste barked, folding his arms over his chest, “Yer a right nob,” he huffed, Brendan had stopped laughing now,

“You’re too easy Steven, too easy,” he chided,

“So what _is_ the occasion then?” Ste asked, he still felt like he was missing something,

“No occasion, saw it on the telly,” Brendan shrugged, “Tasted like shite though… might’ve been cause _I_ cooked it,” he chuckled, opening fire on his own cooking, which meant Ste was safe to criticise it too,

“It _was_ pretty rank,” Ste grinned, all cheek even as Brendan leant in and curled the fingers of his free hand in the front of Ste’s white t-shirt,

“Careful Steven, I know where you sleep,” he warned, though there was a curl to his lips and twin creases at the corners of his eyes that said he was playing,

“Wait, that weren’t you tryin’ to kill me?” Ste grinned, poking his tongue out, beaming when Brendan kissed him again,

“You’re lucky I love you,” Brendan sighed against his mouth, it was an accidental admission, given the way Brendan stiffened, but Ste’s response had him easing up again.

“Love you too,” Ste smiled sweetly at him, watching as Brendan left the bedroom with the tray of empty plates, making a mental note to cook the frittata properly for Brendan some time.


	2. The two of them going down to the beach and one getting sunburned really badly so the other slathers them with aloe gel when they get home

Brendan was exhausted when he emerged from the ocean with Leah on his back and Lucas under one arm, dumping the smaller child unceremoniously onto the pile of sand they'd tried to make a castle out of earlier, before dropping to his knees at the base of his towel.

"It’s your turn..." He let out, Leah slid from his back and he promptly flopped onto his towel, discarding his sunglasses and stretching out on the soft, expensive fabric.

"Aw, poor old daddy Brendan," Ste cooed, running his fingers through Brendan's hair affectionately, he was sat crosslegged on his own beach towel,

"Who're you calling old Steven?" He grumbled, "Didn't see you getting off yer arse to play shark attack with your kids," he added,

"No I was chuckin' a Frisbee about with yours," Ste retorted easily, "Paddy! Declan! Food!" He called out at the two Brady kids, who stopped throwing their Frisbee in favour of jogging over and dropping onto their own towels, Declan grabbing Lucas as he whipped by and sitting the rogue child down next to him.

Brendan didn’t even bother rolling over when Ste placed a Tupperware container of jam sandwiches down in front of him, opting instead to prop himself up on his elbows to eat, looking over at his oddball family every so often, seeing how easily Padraig and Declan got on with Ste’s younger kids, they were never short with them or weary of them, in fact, Paddy loved spending time with Leah and Lucas, being the big brother for once, Declan had grown protective of them too and would often help carry them to bed if they fell asleep on the couch when they visited the house in Dublin.

 

He was all finished with his sandwiches, folding his arms to rest his head on them and chill out for a while when a pair of small feet appeared in his line of sight,

“Daddy Brendan, are you coming back to play?” Leah asked sweetly, she always threw in the ‘daddy’ when she wanted something,

“Daddy Brendan’s havin’ a break princess,” he grumbled, letting his eyes close as Leah plonked herself on the floor next to him and pouted, “not gonna work,” he pointed out, adding to it by lazily grabbing his sunglasses and slipping them on, it was uncomfortable on the side of his head but he didn’t much care, it kept out the sunlight a bit better.

“Please?” Leah’s voice pitched to something cutesy and Brendan wished he had something to stuff in his ears, he was putty for that kid,

“Daddy’ll come play with you in a sec, just gotta make sure everyone’s protected from the sun,” Ste piped up, he was caking Lucas in kiddy sunblock as he spoke, “want some Bren?” he didn’t get a response though, because Brendan had begun to snooze and had officially checked out of all activities for the next hour or so.

“I’ll do it!” Leah beamed, and Ste missed the glint of mischief in her eyes, handing her the fancy expensive sunblock which she proceeded to smear over her hands before starting her masterpiece on Brendan’s back, making sure to put sunblock on Brendan’s face so it would just be his back in her little project.

She was done in under ten minutes and Brendan snoozed through the whole thing, even when she’d poked his face enough to get him to turn it to the other side, declaring herself done as she wiped her hands on Brendan’s towel and stood up, dusting sand from her knees before running to Ste to get her own sunblock topped up so she could go kick a ball at her brothers.

 

“Bren… Brendan wake up…” Ste sounded worried as he gently tapped the side of Brendan’s face, rousing the man from his snooze, and when the worry sank in, he rolled over and was going to sit up but pain shot through his back as Ste yelped ‘wait’ in a panic,

“Sweet Baby Jesus, what the hell?!” Brendan seethed, flinching off the ground and feeling his entire back aflame,

“Alright don’t get mad, I think ya upset Leah,” Ste said hurriedly, crouching down by Brendan in those ridiculously small swimming shorts, Brendan sought out Leah quickly, she’d stopped whatever she was doing at Brendan’s shout and was looking over sheepishly, seeing the scathing look on Brendan’s face. “Oi don’t do that,” Ste reprimanded, prodding Brendan’s shoulder, “it’s just a sunburn, I don’t think she knew it’d hurt ya,” Ste excused,

“How the hell did she sunburn me?” Brendan asked, he wanted to reach and touch his back but he knew that calloused fingers on raw skin would just make things worse,

“She might’ve drawn somethin’ on your back in sunblock…” Ste admitted, looking just as sheepish as Leah was, “But at least it wasn’t Declan who done it, he’d ‘ave drawn a nob or something,” Ste explained offhandedly, “Leah just… you know… drew a face… with a mustache… big one… angry lookin’ thing,” he mumbled, he wasn’t quite looking at Brendan now, and Brendan suspected it was because he was worried Brendan would go off on one like he had last year.

“Jesus…” Brendan grimaced, shedding his sunglasses and rubbing at his face, “What’d I do to deserve that?” he asked, just moving his arms shot pain through his back, tight and reddened by the sun,

“You decided to have a nap when she wanted ya to play shark attack,” a sunburn didn’t seem like a fair punishment for not wanting to go back into the ocean, but Leah was young and possibly didn’t understand that what she’d done was wrong, at least she hadn’t when she’d done it, but now when Brendan looked at her, eyes brimming with tears and Declan trying to figure out what was wrong with her and looking completely hopeless, she clearly knew she’d hurt Brendan.

 

He beckoned her over with a gesture, motioning for a hug, regretting it when Leah flung herself at him and squeezed him tight, hands slapping against the red skin on his back, but he didn’t snap or scold her, instead tentatively hugging her back.

“Leah hun, not so tight, Bren’s got a poorly back,” Ste said softly, and Leah obeyed shakily,

“I’m sorry Daddy Brendan, I didn’t know it’d hurt,” she started to bawl then and Brendan cradled her head as his anger melted away,

“Oh Princess, don’t cry, I’m fine,” Brendan soothed, sending a sharp look Ste’s way when he scoffed a laugh at Brendan’s weakness for the little girl, his little princess.

“We should get some aloe on the way back to the villa, slap it on to sort that right out,” Ste suggested after Brendan had settled Leah in his lap,

“You’re not _slappin’_ anything on my back thank you,” Brendan huffed, stroking Leah’s hair as she rested her head on his chest and quietly fiddled with the skirt on her swimming costume,

“I’ll be gentle,” Ste promised, standing and leaning down to press a slightly awkward upside down kiss on Brendan’s lips before straightening up,

“You better,” Brendan grumbled, watching Ste corral the boys and get them to help pack up, Brendan instead stood and picked Leah up, holding the seven year old with one arm and standing aside, making no effort to help, not even when Declan made a dig at him for it, instead retorting that he was injured.

 

Of course Steven laughed it up back at the villa, sitting on the edge of the bed with Brendan sat between his legs, slathering aloe gel all over his back with gentle hands that _still_ weren’t gentle enough to not hurt as they rubbed against Brendan’s raw, reddened skin.

“Would you be careful!” he snapped, he shouldn’t take it out on Ste, it wasn’t exactly his fault, he’d not expected Leah to exact some kind of revenge against Brendan over the whole ‘not going to play’ thing, but he was the one who’d opted to help Brendan, and as such got the brunt of it.

“Oh quit whining, it’s not _that_ bad,” Ste tutted, and Brendan knew at this point Ste would be biting his tongue in concentration,

“Not that bad? Steven I look like a _burns victim_ ,” he griped,

“Nah you don’t, I think it looks a’right,” Ste hummed, “At least her art’s getting better,” Ste teased,

“Of course, let’s encourage her to start burning her artwork into the backs of her victims, next time she should use the blow torch,” he drawled out sarcastically, earning a poke in the gel covered burn on his back, “Hey!”

“Sorry,” Ste grumbled,

“You better be, I blame you in all this Steven,” he grumbled, “ _let’s go to Mallorca with the kids_ , he says, _we’ll stay in a right lush villa, it’ll be well mint_ ,” he was mocking Ste’s dialect but failing on the accent, but he did decide to pronounce Mallorca wrong,

“Oi, I know how to say Mallorca thank you very much,” Ste protested, giving Brendan a quick smack on the head, “And it _is_ mint! You’re just being a sore old baked potato,” Ste ribbed, squirting some cold gel down Brendan’s spine with a well-timed fart noise,

“That’s racist,” Brendan shivered, scooting forwards as Ste shimmied closer to stretch an arm down his back.

“What?” Ste was blatantly confused, but still rubbing gel into the burn just above Brendan’s waistline when there was a knock on the door and Declan leant in,

“Hey da, Ste, we-- what are you doin’?” he asked, confused, shaking his head after a second, “We figured out how to work the telly an’ that lot want to watch that cartoon dragon movie,” he grumbled,

“Do I need to pay for it or somethin’?” Brendan asked, Declan shaking his head,

“Nah it’s in the telly package, says so in the book, we wanted to wait for you two,” he shrugged,

“Start without us yeah?” Ste began, “We’ll be out in a few,” he beamed, Declan nodded and left, closing the door behind him,

“Are you seriously not done yet?” Brendan asked, impatient,

“Yeah,” Ste leant and pressed a kiss to Brendan’s ear, running a gel covered hand down his front instead, fingers teasing at the front of the tracksuit bottoms Brendan had donned when he got in. “Thought you’d appreciate a little alone time before then,” he was smirking against Brendan’s cheek now, “If yer up for it,”

“Well now Steven, if I recall I ain’t usually the one on my back, am I?” Brendan turned to twin Ste’s smirk, pushing to his feet and shoving Ste back onto the bed, ignoring the pain in his back as he climbed on top of him.


	3. One putting their ridiculous music on in the car and singing along while the other sits in the passenger seat with their head in their hands

The radio fizzled with static, interrupting the Radio One banter and cutting off any chances they had of listening to whatever the next song would be if it ever came, Brendan didn’t mind, staring out the window as they drove to drop off his kids at the airport. He figured he should’ve made some kind of attempt to talk to them, but Declan was sat with his headphones in and Paddy was playing on the Vita he’d gotten over Christmas and had resisted using the entire time in Mallorca, if you didn’t count the fact that he would lie awake at night playing it.

“Aw this is well crap this is,” Ste grumbled, reaching to push search buttons on the navigation panel on the dashboard, none of the stations were clear enough, “Bren have you got your mp3 in that bag?” he asked, Brendan returning to the here and now to look over at him,

“hm?” he grunted,

“Don’t bother with him, the sun’s addled his old brain,” Declan piped up from the back, “put mine on,” he suggested, handing the little green rectangle over Ste’s shoulder, who plugged it into the system and began scrolling for something he liked. Brendan watched quietly, he didn’t want shouting at Declan for insulting him to be the last thing he said to the teen before he shipped him off to Ireland. Besides, he _did_ feel a bit worn down from the sun of Mallorca, his back wasn’t burnt anymore and he had as close to a tan as he could manage, which just meant he looked constantly flustered, but it wasn’t why he’d gone quiet. He wasn’t looking forward to sending the boys back to Ireland, he and Ste would have been going with them under different circumstances, but he wasn’t about to tear Ste away from his kids, especially not when he was getting the chance to spend _months_ with them whilst Amy was fucking around in Africa with the fiancé again for her gap year from University. She’d agreed to let them stay with Ste providing he didn’t take them out of their school in Manchester, so they’d agreed to stay in the spare room of Amy and her fella’s rented house and keep the kids in school, rather than dragging them over to Dublin and disturbing their academic year.

 

“Ah mint, I love the Arctic Monkeys,” Brendan was torn from his thoughts by Ste’s approval of Declan’s music and the radio kicking in, and not only that, but Ste and Declan began yapping along with the intro to the song.

“ _Last night these two bouncers and one of em's alright, the other one's the scary, and his way or no way, totalitarian,_ _he's got no time for you, looking or breathing how he don't want you to, so step out the queue! He makes examples of you and there's nowt you can say, behind they go through to the bit where you pay, and you realize then that it's finally the time to walk back past ten thousand eyes in the line,_ ”

It unsettled Brendan how the both of them pointed at him as they sang about the bouncer, but they continued in spite of the blank look he offered them both. He wasn’t sure if it could really be called singing, they were practically shouting along to the music, gesticulating along with the words as they went.

“Steven the road,” Brendan protested quietly, Ste just gave him an exasperated look as he continued to sing along with Declan, who had unbuckled his seatbelt briefly in order to lean into the front of the car and knock the volume higher to drown out Brendan’s complaint.

He couldn’t honestly say he wasn’t a fan of this music, but the singing that had filled the car and grown loud enough for Paddy to stop playing FIFA and look confused, apparently it wasn’t _his_ thing either, but Ste and Declan had gotten into the chorus, or what he figured must’ve been the chorus, he didn’t know, all he knew was his hands looked like a good place to put his head.

 

He felt Ste pat his shoulder a few times, singing a little quieter as the song dropped, they weren’t going to let up until the song was done, were they? Or worse, they’d continue with the next song. He ended up being right about that, eventually propping his elbow on the car door and his chin in his hand as he stared miserably out the window, trying to ignore the singing, he’d glance at the wing mirror every so often, seeing that Paddy had grown fond of the music and was air-drumming along, a sweet sight even if it _was_ accompanied by terrible singing.

“Oh cheer up Bren,” Ste laughed as a track faded to silence, reaching out and taking Brendan’s hand to reassure him somehow,

“I don’t like you fillin’ my car with shite music,” he griped, not looking at Ste, mentally berating himself when his fingers tightened in an affectionate squeeze around Ste’s,

“Christ Da, do y’know how much cheesy oldies pop you’ve subjected me ‘n Paddy to over the years?” it was a ridiculous amount, he knew, even with him being absentee half the time.

“My car,” Brendan grumbled, it wasn’t a good argument and he knew it, keeping his gaze on the cars whipping by outside, sulking like a child, masking his misery at being parted with his boys after a great fortnight in Mallorca with his only mild dislike of the Arctic Monkeys.

 

He felt Ste tug at his hand before letting go, signalling he wanted his attention whilst Declan settled for humming along to the music quietly; he reluctantly tore his gaze from the signs indicating the airport was coming up, looking over to Ste who beckoned him closer with a slight nod. He leant across the car, offering his ear to Ste,

“We could always reclaim the car before we pick the kids up from Mike’s,” he said low, an undertone to the music that the two kids in the back wouldn’t be able to hear, Brendan turned his head to look at Ste, seeing the way he bit his lip and understanding what exactly Ste was implying. His responding smile wasn’t as enthusiastic as Ste had hoped it would be and the younger man’s suggestive expression turned concerned. “Bren?” he asked, having to tear his gaze away as the traffic ahead of them began to move, Ste soon taking the exit that lead onto the airport’s grounds,

“It’s nothin’,” Brendan sank back into his seat, Ste wanted to press, but Declan decided to come to Brendan’s rescue, belting out the chorus to I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor just as Ste opened his mouth to speak.

Brendan relaxed then, looking at his kids in the rearview, Paddy was struggling between playing his game and trying to drum along, and Declan was getting into his music. Ste didn’t join in immediately, giving Brendan concerned looks as he drove them to the drop off point, but Brendan looked away and focussed on the throngs of people saying goodbye to their loved ones, dreading doing the same as they were.

 

The car slowed and the song was over, Ste shutting off the engine and cutting the next song short, Paddy was out the car like a shot, Declan scooting along the back seat to follow, “Brendan… are you okay?”

“I gotta say goodbye to my boys Steven,” Brendan dismissed, climbing out of the passenger seat to help the boys get their suitcases out of the back. He handed them their suitcases, making sure they were wheeling right and just fussing over anything that wasn’t the boys themselves,

“Da,” Paddy stopped him with a word, but he couldn’t meet his son’s gaze, “Can we go somewhere in the Summer too? I’m sure mam won’t mind,” Paddy beamed, giving his dad a hug, Brendan squeezing him tight and ruffling his hair,

“Your mam likes to take you on holiday in the summer, why’d you think I claimed you for the New Year?” he said with an apologetic smile as he stepped back, looking over to Declan,

“Aw that sucks… maybe we can convince her, eh Deccy!” Paddy suggested to his brother, earning a shrug and getting pulled aside by Ste who wanted to say goodbye too. Brendan took this as his opportunity, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he closed the gap between him and Declan, standing a pace away and looking sheepish,

“I appreciate what you did back there,” he said low, sounding unsure of himself,

“I didn’t do it for you da,” Declan shrugged, “I didn’t want Paddy to feel bad about leavin’,” he grumbled,

“Still… I appreciate it,” Brendan repeated, trying not to sound bitter about Declan not helping _him_ , it seemed to be a recurring theme with people doing things that saved Brendan face.

“I know…” he sighed, they were twinning each other, both stood awkwardly with hands in pockets, not quite looking at one another, they definitely looked related at this point, a thought which made Brendan huff a quiet laugh.

“I really enjoyed that, spending time with you boys and the kids,” he admitted fondly,

“Yeah it was fun,” Declan agreed,

“I think when we find out when Amy’s coming back, me an’ Steven are gonna have a last blow out with the kids, Disney World,” he kicked at the floor as he spoke, “I… actually owe you that trip…” his voice was strained and he felt like his throat would close up just _thinking_ about how he’d been too scared to take Declan on that holiday with Ste and the kids. He looked at Declan then, he looked confused but didn’t push the matter for some reason,

“Disney World sounds good, never been, neither has Paddy,” he nodded, they stood looking uncomfortable for a ridiculous amount of time, Paddy watching from the side, Ste’s arm around his shoulders,

“Deccy just hug him and get it over with,” Paddy huffed, “He’s our da,” he added at Declan’s hesitance, and Brendan knew that the hug he got, stiff and awkward as it was, wasn’t for his benefit,

“You’re doin’ alright da,” Declan mumbled, “I don’t know when or if I’ll forgive ye for what happened… but you’re doin’ alright,” he added, and Brendan felt him relax in his arms, the hug growing genuine even in its brevity. He let Declan go and moved to Ste’s side as the boys grabbed their bags,

“You sure you don’t want us coming with?” Ste offered,

“You said we could check in on our own,” Paddy huffed childishly, “like adults yeah,”

“I know I know,” Ste waved off, “Have a safe flight you two,”

“Call us as soon as you land,” Brendan added, earning an eye-roll from both boys, “I mean it,” he warned,

“Yeah I know, we will,” Declan dismissed, turning to leave, Paddy trailing behind him casting nervous smiles back at them as he went.

 

Brendan and Ste watched them go, Ste smiling and waving, feeding off of Paddy’s excitement about checking in and waiting for the plane without parental supervision, whereas Brendan was struggling not to look sullen, appreciating the arm Ste slung around his waist. He held Ste’s shoulders, holding him close and relying on that contact to ground him, to stop him from wishing he could go with the boys and make everything up to them.

“Come on, let’s get back, I don’t want to have to wake the kids up to take them home,”

“We could always leave them with Michael for the night,” Brendan said slowly, he wasn’t feeling particularly up for it right then, but spending some one-on-one time with Ste sounded like a dream come true.

“If that’s what you want…” Ste seemed unsure, but Brendan turned a sullen, exhausted stare his way and he sagged in a sort of relieved understanding, “Yeah sure, I’ll call in the car,” they spared one last glance at the airport before parting, Ste tossing Brendan the keys and climbing into the passenger seat.

As soon as the engine sparked to life, music began blaring from the speakers and they realised Declan’s ipod was still plugged into the console on the dashboard, “Think we can catch them?” Ste asked, ready to jump out of the car,

“We’ll mail it to him,” Brendan said, dragging his fingers over the panel to search through Declan’s music, he found the first song Ste had put on and hit play, drumming his hands on the steering wheel as he manoeuvred them out of the airport and headed home.


	4. One getting home from work later than the other and stretching out on top of them like a big lazy cat while they sit on the couch in front of the tv

It was mid-afternoon and Brendan had just rolled in from picking up Ste’s children from school, in spite of that, he’d only climbed out of bed about an hour ago having been up late. There’d been a fight outside the club at close and he’d stepped in and managed to get socked in the jaw before flooring the rowdy idiot who’d done it along with his rival for the evening, meaning that _he_ had to hang about for an hour whilst the police dealt with the dispute. The only upside was the stinging in his jaw and the adrenaline from the fight, as brief as it was, had lasted long enough for him to crawl on top of Ste at 5am and roughhouse with the half-asleep scally before giving him a good thorough fucking. Ste had protested to the roughhousing at first but when he felt Brendan, hard and pressed against his thigh, he bit his lip and shoved Brendan hard enough to climb on top of him, no longer complaining that he had to get up to take the kids to school in a few hours.

He couldn’t help but smile at the thought, hanging his coat up beside the front door before following the two excitable kids further into the house, “You two behave,” he called out, “Daddy Brendan is tired…” he added quietly, but they probably didn’t hear, running off to go play.

 

He flopped onto the couch, picking up the remote and turning the TV on, channel surfing until a notice along the bottom of the screen caught his attention, “ _My wife cheated on me with my twin_ , huh that seems a bit tame for you Jezza,” he mumbled, kicking back with his arms spread on the back of the couch and setting his feet on the coffee table. He was engrossed in the drama when Lucas popped up at the end of the couch,

“Da?” Lucas said, voice unsure,

“Hm what is it Pad?” Brendan asked quietly, slowly catching up with what he’d said and turning to look where Lucas was stood looking shy, “Lucas…” he corrected slowly, Lucas had never called him that before, in fact he rarely called Brendan _anything_ , not Daddy Brendan, not Brendan or Bren, he just sort of showed up and tugged at a trouser leg, or stared shyly from afar until Brendan paid attention to him. “Hey kiddo what’s up?” he asked, but Lucas didn’t say anything, instead taking Brendan’s acknowledgement of him as an invite to climb onto the couch and scoot over to curl up under Brendan’s arm, “Alright then,” he shrugged, letting his arm drop to Lucas’ shoulders to hold him closer.

It wasn’t long after that that Leah saw and a flicker of that childish jealousy crossed her face, spurring her to mirror Lucas on the other side, forcefully pulling Brendan’s arm down off of the back of the couch to hold her tight. He wasn’t sure what he’d done to earn this cuddle session but he wasn’t about to complain, he never did this when Paddy and Declan were young, too scared, and he couldn’t do it now because they were too old and would get embarrassed. Leah and Lucas wouldn’t though, after all, they didn’t get embarrassed that he’d picked them up in a pair of trackie bottoms, a hoodie, and his slippers, of course it wasn’t like he’d gotten out of the car, but they were thrilled to see him however he dressed.

 

“Daddy Brendan?” Leah started, and Brendan suspected he’d need to get up to get whatever it was she wanted,

“What is it Princess?” he hummed, tearing his eyes from the screen as the commercials came on,

“What happened to your face?” she asked, reaching to gently prod the bruising that darkened the short stubble on Brendan’s jaw, he winced,

“Well Leah, sometimes when Daddy Brendan’s working, he has to deal with as— _people_ , bad ones, who don’t follow his rules, and when he confronts those people, they lash out, and sometimes they get a lucky hit in,” he explained carefully,

“Oh no!” Leah looked concerned,

“Don’t worry Princess, I battered the little cu… _idiots_ …” he smiled and Leah clapped excitedly, it was worrying how enthusiastic about him laying down a beating she was.

“That’s cause you’re well tough,” Leah beamed, “Nobody can beat my Daddy Brendan,” she was thrilled, tucking herself against Brendan’s side and cuddling him, Lucas hadn’t said anything, so Brendan glanced to him to see if he was okay; he’d fallen asleep, he couldn’t help but smile fondly at the sight, turning his attention to the TV, they were about to bring the twin on.

 

The wife was shouting at her husband about him claiming their son wasn’t his when the front door to the house swung open and slammed closed, Ste kicking his shoes off haphazardly and skulking into the living room, looking at the three people he loved on the couch and sprawling out in front of Lucas, who was tucked up into a ball, Ste ended up with his head on Brendan’s lap, his hand tucked under the other man’s thigh as he got comfortable.

“Jesus when did my job title become ‘sofa’?” Brendan joked, “How was work?”

“Well it woulda been easier if I’d gotten some sleep last night,” Ste jabbed,

“Hey I only kept you up a couple of hours,” Brendan protested,

“Don’t like sleeping without you these days, sue me,” Ste shrugged, smiling when Brendan moved the arm he had around Lucas, just about reaching Ste’s hair and stroking his fingers through it as he lay there. “Are you watching Jeremy Kyle?” he asked with a laugh,

“No it just says ‘The Jeremy Kyle Show’ in the background for artistic purposes,” Brendan drawled, “this lady shagged her husband’s twin, apparently the kid isn’t her husband’s…” he explained lazily, scratching his fingers through the short hair at the side of Ste’s head.

“Did they do a DNA test?” Ste asked, despite his mocking tone earlier, he seemed interested now, “the blokes always react well good to the DNA test,” he murmured, Brendan humming his agreement, he’d seen anything from breaking down in tears to back flipping off of the set, completely different to the mixture of fear and pride that had swelled within him when Eileen told him she was pregnant with Niamh, a feeling that repeated over and over even stronger with his boys.

 

Brendan had only intended to sit down for an hour or so before doing a few things to the books for the club, but Jeremy Kyle had switched over to Peppa Pig, Complete with Ste oinking along to amuse Lucas when he woke up, and eventually Leah had stolen the remote and put Disney movies on, and it was just too comfortable to move. He was almost relieved when his phone declared he’d need to start getting ready to head to the club though, even if he wasn’t let up by Ste or the kids,

“Steven, move please,” he ordered, pushing at Ste’s head,

“Nah call in, stay with us, this is well nice,” Ste hummed, making a point by wriggling in his comfort, which just made Brendan uncomfortable in a whole new way,

“Please stay,” Leah pouted, Lucas was looking at him with dopey half asleep eyes, Brendan had sunk into a laziness induced lethargy though, so his resolve crumbled easily under the pleas of Ste and the kids.

“Fine… but you’re gonna have to move anyway cause my back teeth are floatin’,” Brendan grumbled, smirking when Ste let out an exasperated noise and made to stand,  
“Alright kids, let’s get us some refreshments an’ we’ll put Beauty and the Beast on, cos it’s Daddy Brendan’s favourite,” Ste beamed,

“Since when?” Brendan frowned, he was always more of a Fox and the Hound fan,

“Right, since it reminds him of us,” he grinned at Brendan with his tongue caught in his teeth, inching close to give him a quick kiss, “I’m the beauty a’ course,” he murmured against Brendan’s mouth. Brendan looked impassive, shifting past Ste to head for the bathroom upstairs,

“I dread to think who you’ve cast as Gaston,” he called as he vanished upstairs, already calling the guy he’d hired as an assistant manager for the club, “Harley, I need a favour.”


	5. The both of them going out to a park and getting ice cream to sit with and eat on a bench

Leah’s newfound love of football and desire to join the football team came from spending time with Declan and Paddy, the eight year old had been joining the two teenagers when they had a kick-about at the park and they’d got it into her head that she was good at it, which wasn’t a lie, but she’d taken it to heart and even found out there was a girls’ team in her school that she wanted to try and get on. After that they’d spent every afternoon at the park with all the kids, kicking a football around and giving Leah all the tips they knew, tips that included not listening to Daddy Brendan’s tips, it was fun though, and for some reason Declan didn’t mind spending his time with kids when he could be out making friends or going to clubs, happy to help Leah with her technique.

It was the last day they had before Leah would be able to try out for her school team and Brendan had decided to call it quits when an ice cream van parked up nearby,

“Oh come on Bren, we ain’t done,” Ste protested,

“Ah Ste leave him to it,” Declan said dismissively, “he’s old n feeble, his bones are probably hurtin’,” he added with a grin, Brendan didn’t even deign him with a response, turning his attention to the youngest kids instead,

“Who wants an ice cream then?” he asked, clapping his hands together as he looked between Leah, Lucas and Paddy, his question was dismissed by Paddy and Leah, who just wanted to play football with Declan, but Lucas ran at him,

“Oh me da I want a big one!” the six year old beamed as he flung himself into Brendan’s arms. Brendan lifted him easily, using Lucas as a shield to hide the fact that he was sticking his middle finger up at Declan, retaliation to the old comment,

“Alright then Lucas, let’s go,” he said with a smile, carrying the child towards the ice cream van,

“I’ll come with,” Ste piped up, he was sweating as he jogged over and even though he was younger, he was slim rather than athletic, so he was lagging a bit and wanted a sit down, the ice cream he ended up getting was a bonus.

 

The three of them sat down on a park bench nearby, Ste and Brendan sat thigh to thigh and Lucas perched on Brendan’s lap, watching the others continue to play football,

“This is well nice,” Ste sighed happily, “I wish it could be like this forever,”

“I don’t,” Brendan answered a little too quickly, “not a big fan of Manchester…” he added,

“I’m from ‘ere you know,” Ste poked,

“I’m aware, Steven, I’m reminded of that fact every time this opens and sound comes out,” he leant in and kissed Ste in that chaste, inviting way he used whenever Ste was unsure, “Besides, I’m only just breaking through wit’ Amy and Eileen,” he said their names with some disdain, but it wasn’t anything against them, he was just tired of all the pandering he had to do just to get them to agree to let _either_ of them near their kids.

“Yeah… Amy doesn’t hate you yanno, I mean, _we_ stayed close after everythin’, once she sees that we’re just doin’ the same, you’re changing like _I_ did, she’ll realise she were wrong to be like that with you,” Ste explained before taking a big lick of his 99, it made sense how he saw things, but Brendan wasn’t about to point that out to Amy, letting her come to her own conclusions however she saw fit.

“I like you da,” Lucas supplied helpfully, Brendan ruffled his hair in response,

“Thank you Lucas,”

“That’s dead cute you know,” Ste pointed out, Brendan’s ice cream was practically untouched and melting across his fingers, so he was awkwardly trying to clean himself up as Ste spoke, “That ain’t,” he added, but Brendan shrugged as he proceeded to engulf the flake and ice cream whilst staring at Ste, like a challenge. “That’s gross,” Ste cringed, “Lucas no!” he panicked when Lucas went to copy Brendan and ended up covering himself in ice cream instead, “Brendan look what you did!” Brendan was laughing whilst Ste cleaned up Lucas, who looked far too pleased with himself even if he _hadn’t_ succeeded at eating his ice cream in one go. “Are you gonna apologise or what?” Ste huffed, a tissue full of ice cream in his hand as he sat with his knee pressed to Brendan’s thigh, turned so he could reach Lucas easier.

“I don’t think so Steven, teaching your children not to copy adults is _your_ responsibility,” he hummed, smile faltering when Ste abruptly pressed the cold wet tissue to Brendan’s face, “Hey!” he protested, Lucas bursting into giggles and sliding off Brendan’s lap to run away from the ensuing ‘fight’.

 

It became a quick tussle, Ste trying to keep the tissue in hand so he could wipe more on Brendan, making the mistake of not focusing on his own ice cream, which Brendan knocked so it would slap wet on Ste’s cheek and stick there whilst he gawked at Brendan, completely affronted by this assault. Ste was on his feet then, using his entire body weight to push Brendan down onto the bench, ice cream in one hand, cold soggy tissue in the other, soon straddling Brendan’s lap and trying to get both hands on his face.

“C’mere you old git,” he gritted out, a stupid grin lighting his face, one almost matched by the blissfully amused look on Brendan’s,

“Old? Again?” Brendan huffed, managing to get both of Ste’s wrists trapped with one hand, “You throw that word around too much Steven,” his voice was a little strained as he manoeuvred his other hand under Ste’s thigh.

“Bren not here,” Ste warned, earning a low rumble of a chuckle from Brendan, who soon revealed his motives weren’t _that_ kind of unsavoury when Ste went crashing onto the grass with a very undignified shriek. “Brendan!” he balked, yelping when Brendan shoved off of the bench and landed on top of him, pinning him to the ground and grabbing his wrists, taking full control of the ice cream, “Brendan no, don’t,” he plead, letting out a disgusted whine when Brendan began using his own hands to spot the ice cream on his face,

“Steven, what are you doing?” Brendan asked, mocking concern,

“Brendan stop it!” he demanded, getting a gob full of ice cream as he spoke,

“I’m not doin’ anythin’ Steven,” he had an air of innocence in his voice that didn’t suit him at all, “This is ridiculous Steven, stop it,” he tutted, “slatherin’ ice cream all over yerself, not sure what you’re playin’ at,” he cracked at the end, a chuckle bubbling in his throat as he tossed the tissue aside and crushed the slightly soggy cone over Ste’s nose.

 

Ste was wiping at his face the moment Brendan released his wrists, the older man moving to climb off of Ste but Ste’s hands—covered in ice cream—found the back of Brendan’s neck and pulled him down for a messy, chilly kiss.

“An’ you call _us_ kids,” the two parted and looked to their side, coming eyeline with a pair of trainers and jean clad shins, looking up to see Declan looking at them like they were idiots, which was understandable,

“Well this is an improvement,” Brendan noted, earning a confused look from Ste, who was embarrassed and trying to clean his face with one hand and Brendan’s with the other, only managing to make more of a mess, “he’s not callin’ me old for once,” Brendan elaborated, shivering at the feel of melted ice cream dripping across his neck, “Deccy you got a towel?”

“I got one in my bag, I’ll be two seconds,” Declan huffed miserably at losing his chance to make fun of them, jogging to where their bags were set up as temporary goal posts.

“I think it’s time to go home, grab a shower,” Brendan hummed, making no move to get off of Ste, instead resting his forearms on the grass either side of him, hands brushing through Ste’s hair affectionately, sticky fingers making the experience less than pleasurable, but it didn’t stop Ste stretching up the small gap to kiss him though.


	6. One inexplicably bringing home an animal and refusing to drop it at the shelter so they and the other have to take care of it

Ste couldn’t help but fidget uncomfortably in their empty home, he hadn’t heard from Brendan since 2am and it was almost 6 now, and it wasn’t like he hadn’t tried to call and text Brendan, he just hadn’t had a response, and the last message he’d gotten from him was ‘hit something with car, will be late, B x’, so suffice to say, he was worried. He didn’t know _what_ Brendan had hit, if his reason for being late was because he himself was hurt, or because there was damage to his car, but his mind was reeling and he was expecting the worst. He was pacing at this point, stopping every so often to sit down and worry his lip with teeth _and_ fingers, pulling at and pinching the plump flesh as he stared off into the distance, waiting for Brendan to call him or text him or _come home_ , _anything_ to ease his mind and stop him worrying about the other man. He didn’t usually worry this much about Brendan, but it was March 21 st yesterday, and Brendan never coped well on that day, he’d made a habit of avoiding Ste on the night between the 21st and the 22nd, usually without an explanation, returning in a terrible state. So suffice to say, Ste was worried that he could be hurt or even worse, _dead_.

As if on cue, that thought spurred the doorbell into life, Ste rushing to answer and yanking it open to find Brendan waiting, arms full,

“Where’ve ya been?!” Ste asked, panic in his voice as he reached and touched Brendan’s face, running his thumbs over the other man’s cheeks like he hadn’t seen him for an age and never thought he’d be coming back. “I’ve been worried sick! I thought you’d _died_ ,”

“Steven… I texted you…” Brendan said slowly, and Ste was about to interject with ‘yeah, _once_ ,’ but he was interrupted by Brendan handing over the heavy bag he’d had in his arms,

“God Bren, what _is_ this?” he gawked, staggering under the surprising weight that had been pushed against his chest and released, ready for him to catch. He’d looked down at the bag for a split second, and when he looked up again Brendan was gone, “Brendan?” he called out, exasperated at the lack of answers, more so when Brendan returned to dump some large shopping bags on the doorstep,

“Don’t just stand there Steven, take them in,” Brendan chastised, and Ste noticed the way Brendan didn’t even look at him, glancing back at the street where his car was parked, seemingly pristine despite the alleged accident, which made Ste suspicious. Brendan returned to his car when Ste refused to take whatever this haul was inside,

“Brendan!” he raised his voice this time, stopping Brendan just past the gate, who turned and raised his hands defensively,

“Alright… don’t get mad…” he said slowly, and Steven promptly dumped the heavy plastic sack on the floor at his feet, tightening his jaw and folding his arms,

“ _Brendan_ ,” he sighed, he didn’t know what Brendan was about to come out with, but he was dreading it.

“It’s just for a few days…” he began, backing up towards the car as he spoke, “There wasn’t any space and it _was_ my fault…” Ste watched as Brendan opened the passenger side door of his car and turned to fetch something from it.

 

He was cradling something in his arms when he approached Ste again, a black mass in his arms that was hard to see against Brendan’s black jacket, though the stretch of bright pink bandage around a cast was well lit by the light behind Ste.

“What is that?” Ste asked, pointing at the lump in Brendan’s arms, he knew what it was, sort of, he knew a dog when he saw one,

“Apparently a Labrador,” Brendan answered flippantly, carrying the animal past Ste and into the house, “Can you bring that stuff in? I want to make sure she gets settled,” Ste obeyed autonomously, not entirely aware of his actions until he was sat on the couch watching Brendan sit crosslegged on the floor with a six month old puppy in his lap, fussing over it.

“Are you gonna explain this?” Ste asked, there was a dog in his flat, a small black puppy with a broken leg, that Brendan had brought back,

“Well as I texted, I hit something with my car, it happened to be little Lynsey here,” his tone changed as he addressed the dog, scratching a little white spot on her chin, “Took her to the vets, got her all fixed up, found out they didn’t have much room, especially not for a stray, so I offered to take her rather than let her go to the local shelter,” he shrugged, “I figure we hold onto her whilst they wait for someone to call about a lost puppy,” it was pretty clear to Ste that he had no say in whether this dog could stay or not, but he still had some questions.

“Lynsey?” Ste frowned,

“The dog, Steven,” Brendan finally tore his attention away from the dog to look at Ste, who’s expression warmed when the puppy lifted her head and began to lick Brendan’s chin, tickling him. “Hey stop that,” Brendan scolded lightly, and Ste found himself grinning,

“Alright then, c’mere,” Ste said, though he slid off the couch and began scooting along the floor to sit next to Brendan, “Hi Lynsey,” he cooed, the little puppy coming out of her shell and lapping at his outstretched fingers, when she relented he instead took to scratching at her floppy little ears.

 

It felt nice, sitting on the floor shoulder to shoulder with Brendan, close enough to lean his head on the older man’s shoulder, which he did after a while, lacing his fingers with Brendan’s, their free hands petting Lynsey as she dozed off in Brendan’s lap.

“How long do you think she’ll be here?” Ste asked curiously, smoothing silky fur with his fingertips,

“Well if nobody calls about her…” Brendan trailed off, Ste lifting his head to look at him with wide eyes,

“You’re jokin’, we’re still renting, no pets allowed,” he protested, but Brendan was shaking his head like Ste was wrong,

“We can change that,” he said easily,

“What? Brendan we can’t just threaten them into letting us keep a dog what you hit with your car,” he explained,

“You’re not in love with this face?” Brendan carefully tilted the dog’s face up for Ste to look at, big brown eyes blinking sleepily up at him,

“Well she’s cute but… I dunno…” Ste shrugged, resolve crumbling.

“What about _this_ face?” Brendan leant to kiss Ste lightly, their foreheads touching when the kiss broke, Ste made a noncommittal whine of a noise, he wasn’t sure a dog was a good idea, “Just wait til the kids see her,” Brendan added, even though Lucas and Leah wouldn’t be visiting for a good couple of months, and Ste dropped his forehead to Brendan’s shoulder in defeat, quietly hoping that nobody would report an adorable black puppy missing.


	7. One giving the other their jacket and not getting it back from the other until it stops smelling like them

“Paddy! Deccy! Have you seen my jacket?” Brendan called out from the coat rack of his home in Dublin, he hadn’t seen the jacket in weeks and it was bothering him more so today because he wanted to wear it,

“Which one Da?” Declan called back,

“Leather, mandarin collar, zips up,” he described, “short!” he threw in after, hissing a quick ‘shush’ at the Labrador whining at him as he stalled taking her for a walk.

“You mean the one you wear literally all the time?” Declan poked out of the kitchen then, Brendan shrugging,

“I guess so, have you seen it?” he asked, Declan shrugged,

“Nah not seen it since me ‘n Paddy got here anyways,” he answered, “Figured you’d finally realised how stupid it looked,”

“Ey, it doesn’t look stupid, it’s a good jacket, nice,” he protested,

“Expensive doesn’t make it nice Da,” Declan pointed out,

“You’re no help, go back to your rabbit food,” Brendan dismissed, ignoring the nineteen year old’s comment about him cooking veggie röstis and huffily rifling through the coats on the coat rack; his longer jacket was here, but it wasn’t cold enough for that and he wasn’t wearing the right clothes for it. “For fuck’s sake where the hell is it?!” he hissed, knocking the pole over and watching the coats fan out on the floor before storming upstairs, ignoring the barking that ensued at the racket, “Paddy!” he called out, “Padraig! A word!”

“Da calm down!” Declan shouted up the stairs after him, so he stopped outside Paddy’s door, taking a few breaths before knocking and walking in, Paddy was sat at his computer playing some game with squares and triangles and electro music.

 

“Pad have you seen my jacket? Short leather one, mandarin collar, zips up, I’ve had it years, you know the one,” his tone was short and his teeth were gritted but he was doing his best not to direct his frustrations at Paddy.

“Uh…” Paddy trailed off, not taking his eyes off the screen, “Hold on,” he uttered, a pause screen coming up before he tabbed out and brought up his facebook, clicking a few times before scooting his chair to the side, “this one?” he asked, and there it was, hanging loose and pristine, 200 miles away on the shoulders of one Ste Hay as he crouched down with Leah in her unnecessarily girly looking football uniform,

“When did he take that?” Brendan asked as he got close enough to rest his hands on the back of Paddy’s chair, leaning over his shoulder to look.

“Uh… it was uploaded two hours ago, see?” he pointed at the 2hrs note by Ste’s name, Brendan smirked at that, ruffling Paddy’s hair as he stepped back,

“Thanks Paddy, you’re a star,” he praised as he went to leave,

“No problem da,” the youngster beamed, returning to his game, “Ah feck,” Paddy grumbled, Brendan turned to see him looking incredibly sheepish, “I mean… darn?” Paddy looked a bit nervous,

“Good save there Padraig,” Brendan dismissed, not too bothered with his kid swearing at this age, he didn’t see the harm in it if it wasn’t directed at someone, and he certainly didn’t censor himself, not around Paddy and Declan anyway; he wouldn’t risk it with Ste’s kids, it’d slay him if Amy said Ste couldn’t see the kids anymore. He shook those thoughts from his head and decided to clean up his little rampage, settling on a slightly less impressive jacket to complete his outfit instead, a canvas military looking thing in a dark grey, beckoning the dog to follow him out the door with a sharp ‘heel’ and taking her for her walk leash-free.

 

After finding out the identity of the jacket thief, Brendan had installed the facebook app onto his phone, the only time he’d used facebook outside of it being made was accepting a friend and relationship request from Ste before they moved to Dublin, it was about time he put it to good use. He’d had so many notifications when he’d first logged in, and most of them were pictures he’d been tagged in, others were less savoury comments from people from Chester but he didn’t dwell on it, instead using it for what he’d intended to and searching through Ste’s uploads.

He didn’t update any statuses or upload any pictures, only using the app and the site itself to see the photos Ste would upload every couple of hours, typically pictures of him and the kids; or some new recipe he’d thrown together; or the weirdest one, pictures of him, Amy, and her fella, _getting along_. He’d found that Ste had been wearing his jacket every day since Brendan had left Ste at the airport three weeks ago, he barely even remembered lending it to him, but they’d been out in Dublin with Lynsey, saying goodbye to one another before they spent solo-time with their kids, and even in the early Summer it wasn’t exactly warm at night. Ste had wished that Brendan and the boys could come to Manchester with him, but Brendan didn’t get on with Amy’s fella due to a difference of beliefs, Brendan would have let it drop but there was only so many times he could listen to someone imply that he was a loon for keeping faith before he would try to punch them in the mouth, which had gotten him barred from the household until Ste could smooth things over, which was apparently more difficult than initially anticipated.

After a while he realised that what he was doing could be considered stalking, looking through Ste’s photos and status updates, so he didn’t bring it up in his and Ste’s phone calls, instead he found himself preoccupied with the fact that Ste was probably curled up in his leather jacket right then, wearing it like a second skin; he wanted to see Ste in it, pressed into the sheets with his ass on display and Brendan’s fingers digging into his hips as he fucked him.

 

The possessiveness he felt reminded him of the early stages of their ‘relationship’, when things definitely weren’t healthy between them, and part of him wanted to reign it in, knew he probably should, but when he woke up to a picture of Ste and Amy getting coffee and breakfast, the photo obviously taken by Amy’s fella, his possessiveness hit full force. The jacket was gone, replaced by a blue tracksuit that he’d bought for Ste when they’d still lived in Chester, and even though she’d stopped being a threat, Amy’s proximity to Ste set Brendan’s teeth on edge.

The next few days the jacket still didn’t make an appearance, and Brendan found himself in a foul mood because of it; he’d given Lynsey the brunt of it, mostly in the form of telling her she couldn’t come on the couch and shutting the bedroom door at night, and he’d almost ruined the last few days his boys were spending with him, trying to reign in his irritation and frustration by taking the boys out to the cinema or for meals, doing whatever they wanted to do and biting his tongue when something became a mild inconvenience. They’d noticed his foul mood but didn’t question it, instead he realised they were both pussyfooting around him and doing their best to not rub him the wrong way, even trying to diffuse potentially confrontational situations in public. He appreciated it, said as much to Declan when they were parting ways at the rails, and for once Declan didn’t say he’d done it for someone else’s sake.

 

“I know you miss Ste,” he shrugged, “I keep seein’ you on your phone,” he explained at Brendan’s confused look, “it’d be creepy if I didn’t know what you two were like,” he teased, Brendan resting a hand on his shoulder and smiling slightly.

“Thanks,” he repeated, “you boys stay safe, have fun with your mother alright?” he addressed both his sons then, giving Declan a sort of side-ways hug, Paddy joining on the other side, holding Lynsey’s lead for dear life, “call me when you get there, and tell me how the holiday was, I wanna know what I’ve gotta beat after Christmas,”

“You still owe us Disney world da,” Declan pointed out, and he was right, Brendan had been forced to cancel those plans last year when he’d hit the loopy dog at Paddy’s side with his car and ended up adopting her.

“Disney world?” Paddy asked, excitement visibly bubbling up in him at the thought of going to Florida, but their train arrived and Brendan was freed from this conversation,

“We’ll talk about it next time you’re here, get gone,” Paddy pouted and moved away, handing over the lead and grabbing his bag,

“Alright…” he sulked, the two of them hopping onto the train and finding a seat where they could wave at their dad, Brendan raised his hand in a brief wave before putting his hands in his pockets and watching them go, even Lynsey sobered at that, plonking herself down on the floor and watching quietly with her head cocked.

 

He was on facebook on his laptop this time, sat at his desk with the dog on his sock-clad feet, looking at the photo Ste had uploaded an hour ago, Ste was looking sulkily at the camera as he packed his things, the caption was “ _sayin bye 2 the kids 2moz :’(_ “ and Brendan’s jacket was folded neatly on the edge of the bed, not near enough to Ste’s skin for Brendan’s liking, and before he knew it, he was calling Ste, barely aware he was doing so until Ste’s concerned voice broke through the watery haze in his head.

“Hello? Brendan?” he sounded worried. “I know ya there Bren, I can hear you breathin’,” he added after a long pause,

“ _Steven_ ,” he said low, voice a rough whisper that he knew would send a shiver down Ste’s spine,

“Bit early for that Bren,” Ste laughed nervously, and Brendan could hear Amy and her fella in the background,

“Steven,” he said again, “you’re not wearing my jacket,” he said matter-of-factly, and he could practically hear Ste turning to look around quizzically,

“Your jacket? Not been wearing that for a while Bren,” Ste said slowly, trying to process where Brendan was going with this phone call.

“It’s been a week,” Brendan rumbled, “Why.” It barely sounded like a question and Ste took a while to answer, quietly excusing himself from Amy’s company to take the call somewhere private,

“Why? Well… I dunno… it just sort of…” he trailed off into a mumble,

“I didn’t quite catch that Steven…” Brendan purred into the phone,

“It smells like me…” he uttered, Brendan humming for him to elaborate, “It stopped smellin’ like you din’t it?” he expanded, sounding awkward and a bit downtrodden by the lack of Brendan smell.

“Well that isn’t going to work now, is it?” Brendan hummed thoughtfully, he was clicking away at keys, the laptop monitor lighting him up as he quietly sought a solution to Ste’s problem,

“Gonna have to get over it I guess,” Ste shrugged, “I’m coming home soon anyway yeah, so I’ll have you all to meself,” Ste’s voice got a hint of mischief and Brendan smiled at the thought of having Steven to himself again,

“I’ll square things away at the club, take a couple of days off,” Brendan promised, he was already e-mailing Harley, “I like it, you know,” he said, almost abrupt, “seein’ you in my jacket,”

“Dead sexy innit,” Ste chuckled, “Looks better on you though,” he was flirting now, but Brendan had preparations to make,

“As much as I’d love for this to continue Steven, I did just say I had business,”

“Aw but you called _me_ ,” Ste protested,

“I may have, and I’m ending the call now, I’ll see you tomorrow,” he rumbled, smiling as he wondered if Ste picked up on the hint,

“You’re a cruel man Bren, so cruel,” Ste whined, “love you,” he threw in with a kiss,

“Love you too,” Brendan echoed, hanging up and dialling another number, “Hello yeah, you should be gettin’ a call from one Steven Hay tomorrow, he’ll ask to go to the airport, but I’ve got five hundred pounds that says you’re going to be taking him to The Lowry Hotel instead, oh and make sure to tell him to bring a jacket.”


	8. One sending memes to the other while they’re at work so much they turn their phone off in exasperation

Brendan missed the picture messages he used to get from Ste, mostly the inappropriate ones, but he didn’t mind the other tamer ones, whether it was him bundled up in Brendan’s dressing gown watching TV captioned with ‘bunk off n giz a cuddle xx’, or a photo of what he’d cooked up at the restaurant for Brendan to eat when he arrived to sort out the club upstairs, Ste had only ever sent him somewhat intimate moments for them to share, that is until Declan sent Ste a friend invite on facebook.

Now all Brendan received when his phone began chirping on his office desk or in his pocket was some stupid graphic Declan had sent Ste, half of them could be considered digs at Brendan, in fact half of them _were_ , since they were captioned by Ste with ‘lol just like u xx’.

The latest one was a Gordon Ramsay one, white block capitals emblazoned on the image reading _‘The beef is so undercooked it’s eating the fucking salad’_ with Ste’s added comment of ‘rmr my bday last yr? xx’ complete with a sick-face, and typically Brendan didn’t respond to these, he had a slew of them, image after image with the occasional message about being home late or picking something up from somewhere, but never an acknowledgement of the ‘meme’ or whatever the hell it was. This time however, he thumbed in a response of ‘remind me never to do anything nice for you.’

 

He expected it to prevent Ste from sending another picture but within seconds there was a game character telling him to ‘cry some more’ on his screen, so with a heaved sigh he shoved the phone to the other end of the desk, picking up a pen to go over his books, resting his head in his hand as he worked. His phone proceeded to chirp at him over the next hour or so, each time he’d glance up to see a photo briefly before it faded to black, it was only when he started getting text-only messages that he decided to pick the damned thing up, giving the pictures a disinterested glance before reading Ste’s message. _‘Soz b, i like ur cookn rly, best fry ups eva y/y?’_ he let out an unenthusiastic laugh through his nose at that, when their differences were minor, Ste would pander, but other times they’d both stubbornly stand their ground until whoever they’d gone to for venting got sick of them and tried to get them to resolve it, but Brendan was sore about the spam of images, sending back a brief _‘Yeah.’_ , his use of periods were a good indicator of his mood, and Ste was happy to point that out with a _‘miserble git xx’_ which Brendan ignored.

He realised after a while that Ste’s new torrent of images was mostly to try and cheer him up or make him laugh, but Ste hadn’t pegged onto the fact that it was the images that were bothering him, that and the fact that Cheryl had sent out a friend request to Declan when she’d first made Brendan an account but it had been ignored until very recently, whereas as soon as Ste moved in with Brendan in Dublin and the lads had first visited, Declan had _insisted_ Ste accept his friend invite, and had then gone so far as to label Ste as his _step-father_ , which had been a riot to explain to Eileen over the phone, since he had no idea Declan had done that, having not used the site for much more than looking at photos he was tagged in. He pinched the bridge of his nose at the thought of that conversation, the headache brewing made worse by the whistle chirp of his phone notifying him that Ste had sent him another picture of a cat looking dumb.

 

He wanted to throw the phone at the wall at this point, but the last time he’d done that Ste had been angry for _days_ about it, harping on about hypothetical emergencies that apparently wouldn’t get through to the club or restaurant phones if they ever happened. So instead he picked it up, glanced at the text for long enough for it to register as read before turning it off and shoving it in the drawer of his desk, drumming his pen on the desk before setting to work once more, red penning a few things but the black pen prevailed, as per usual.

He was looking over the Manchester books when there was a knock on the office door, he didn’t look up, merely calling out a quick ‘come in’, but getting no response for a good minute or so, which prompted him to look up finally, which he regretted as soon as he saw the print out being held in the doorway.

“You’re wasting printer ink on those now?” he asked, shaking his head and looking back to his work,

“Aw c’mon look at it though, it’s well cute, looks like Lynsey!” Ste beamed as he followed the image in and slid it on top of the books Brendan was looking at. Brendan exhaled slowly through his nose, closing his eyes for a few seconds before opening them and looking at the picture, it was a black dog lying down in a way that made it’s floppy ears look open and alert, with ‘did you hear that? The food bag!’ written on it in bold text. It _did_ look like the puppy they’d taken in, complete with little white chin and a spot of white on its chest,

“I suppose it does look like the little brat…” he admits, thinking about the dog that was probably trying to chew her way out of the wired crate in their living room, a precaution he’d insisted on when he’d come home to find her maw clamped around his boots, one of them anyway, which was Ste’s defence for the puppy, not that Brendan would get far in a single limited edition boot, but it had stopped him trying to rehome Ste’s _(their)_ new baby.

“Oh Bren, you’re not still mad about them boots are ya?” Ste huffed, sitting on the edge of the table, pouting down at Brendan like he was ready to defend the dog again,

“ _Six hundred pounds_ Steven, _Gucci_ , the dog doesn’t cost that much to feed for a _year_ ,” he was changing the target of his irritation,

“She’s a _puppy_ ,” Ste protested,

“She’s almost _two_ Steven, that’s what… 14 in dog years? You don’t see Paddy destroying my shoes,” he grumbled,

“Aye right you _love_ that dog, stop pretendin’ this is about her and your dumb shoes,” Ste sussed him easily at this point, leaning across the desk and prodding at Brendan’s chest, “What’s got you all ‘Grumpy Cat’?”

“Probably the _‘Grumpy Cat’_ ,” he air quoted as he spoke, giving Ste a tired, uninterested stare,

“What? You don’t like grumpy cat?” Ste asked,

“I don’t like having my phone filled up with this shite constantly,” he gestured at the dog picture before burying his face in his hands, “you’re an adult Steven, not a twelve year old, act like one,” he chastised,

“Oh come on Bren, it’s only a bit of fun, Deccy sent me them,” he protested, touching the back of Brendan’s neck lightly, Brendan shirked him off and sat up,

“Oh yeah, you an’ Declan are bezzie mates now, aren’ cha?” he sniped,

“So _that’s_ it?” Ste sighed, “look just cos me an’ Deccy are mates right doesn’t mean you have to go off on one about it,” he grumbled,

“I’m not goin’ off on one Steven…” he trailed off, not looking at the other man, “Do you know how ridiculous I felt havin’ to explain to Eileen why people are askin’ when she re-married cause Deccy’s got a new step-da?” now he was going off on one, “An’ _I_ knew less than her!” he added, standing this time,

“Oh…” in another time Ste would have shrank back, but he just folded his arms across his chest and huffed at him, “Look I thought it was cute aright? Didn’t think owt would come of it, besides they’ve got eyes to see Deccy’s got a family relationship with us then they’ll probably see I’m with _you_ ,” Ste pointed out matter-of-factly, “now calm down and give us a kiss,” he gave him a smug look then.

 

They stared at each other for a long while, Ste keeping up that smug expression whilst Brendan looked bitter and ready to throw something at the nearest wall, he wanted to so badly, turning his gaze down to his desk when Ste kept up the grin.

“Quit lookin’ so smug Steven…” he tutted, as soon as he’d looked down Ste had pulled his phone from his pocket and begun playing with it,

“Nah I’m alright being smug ta,” he grinned, thumbing something into his phone, “Still waitin’ on that kiss though,”

“Alright then…” Brendan said slow and low, expression hard as he moved like a blur, violently shoving everything from the desk onto the floor,

“Brendan!” Ste balked, stepping back then,

“Get on the feckin’ table Steven…” he grinned, waiting for Ste’s look of shock to smooth into that cheeky, predatory look he got before matching it with his own,

“ _Brendan_ ,” Ste repeated, pocketing his phone and unzipping the leather jacket he’d once again claimed as his own and letting it hang off of two fingers before dropping it on the floor, the thud from his phone resonating in the room.

 

“Yanno there’s a couch right _there_ ,” Ste grumbled, rubbing his backside, Brendan was sitting with his feet up on the cleared table, next to the slightly shinier metal where Ste’s bare ass had been moments ago,

“Desk is more fun…” Brendan muttered, turning his phone back on whilst Ste gathered his clothes together, “Huh…” he let out, frowning at his phone and then looking up at Ste, watching the younger man pulling his jeans back up, “So Deccy’s admitted he’s my son on facebook,” he said slowly, watching as Ste didn’t even look at him, but he saw his ears turn a little bit pink in embarrassment,

“Mint. Wonder what brought that on,” he hummed innocently, expression struggling to copy his tone as he looked over at Brendan, soon zipping up his leather jacket and subtly patting the pocket where his phone was.

“Who knows,” Brendan shrugged, Ste mimicked the gesture and sat down on the leather couch to put his shoes on, Brendan didn’t really know how to react to that, feeling like he owed Ste more than just pretending he hadn’t thrown him a huge lifeline by convincing Declan to set him as his father on facebook, it was something small and stupid, but it meant a lot to him.

“Right I’d best be off then, I’ve not been home yet an’ Lynsey needs walking,” Ste exhaled long and slow, checking he had everything, not moving when Brendan stood up abruptly and crossed the office to stand behind him,

“Thank you Steven,” Brendan pressed his hands to Ste’s hips, lips brushing against his ear as he spoke,

“It’s the least I can do,” Ste mumbled, “specially with the way Amy’s been actin’,” he was referring to the fact that Ste couldn’t see his kids unless Brendan stayed in Ireland, or a hotel if he pushed that his businesses in Manchester needed him there,

“Well I _did_ sock her fella one,” Brendan mumbled into his shoulder, arms circling Ste more now,

“He deserved it, he’s a right nob to us,” Ste shrugged,

“Us? What’s he done?” There was a protective tone low in his voice,

“Nothin’, he just… I dunno, makes me feel like he’s better than me or somethin’,” he grumbled,

“Well I’ll tell you what, next time I see that smug prick, I’ll batter him,” he promised, feeling Ste press back against him,

“That’s better, there’s my Bren,” Ste grinned, leaning his head back on Brendan’s shoulder so he could turn and kiss the corner of his mouth lightly, “All that needed was a text message, a quick shag, and violence,” he beamed,

“Let’s go walk that stupid dog,” Brendan huffed, loosing Ste to grab his longer leather jacket and his keys,

“What about the mess?” Ste asked, gesturing to the desk,

“I’ll clean it later,” Brendan shrugged, giving Ste’s ass a quick smack to spur him into motion, loving the look Ste cast over his shoulder at him before departing.


End file.
